


as long as you're mine

by orphan_account



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Future, Alternate Universe - Robots & Androids, M/M, an excessive amount of talk about bananas, you're going to hate the end
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-20
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 19:54:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2480465
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“I don’t like that story.” And - okay. Harry wasn’t expecting that, but Niall isn’t finished. </p><p>“I don’t like it because you’re not in it.” </p><p>Harry has to pretend his heart doesn’t swell. He wonders briefly if Niall had a heart, would his be doing the same?</p><p>(Harry is human. Niall is not.)</p>
            </blockquote>





	as long as you're mine

**Author's Note:**

> i love you aidan
> 
> (read my author's note at the end....explanations and apologies will be there)
> 
> (also warning: do not listen to "as long as you're mine" from the wicked soundtrack while reading this. do not . )

_“There is nothing like a dream to create the future.”_

_-Victor Hugo_

“Do androids dream of electric sheep?”

It’s the first question Harry asks the first android he meets in a local coffee shop. He’s nervous, afraid, and has no idea what androids are capable of now that they’re out in the real world. He only says the first thing that comes to his mind.

What surprises him is the way the android’s expression contorts into one of confusion. Harry didn’t know what to expect at first. He knows androids are meant to be human-like, meant to act and look like humans and even feel like humans, but he also knows that they’re far from being alive the way he is. They’re run on electricity, and they don’t even have a real heart. All they have is a cold, metal contraption inside of their chests. They aren’t real.

Except that they are. There’s one right in front of Harry, one named ‘Niall Horan’ as Harry can see on the badge on the android’s right shoulder along with the tiny Irish flag next to it. They’re definitely real, and they can speak too.

“Dream of electric sheep?” The voice that comes from him - it? - is gruff and Irish accented. Hundreds of other questions bloom in Harry’s mind but he can’t process it all. He’s so, so curious.

“I’m sorry,” he says then, shaking his head to himself as he looks at Niall. It’s all so odd, but it shouldn’t be any different from talking to a human. “It’s the name of a book. It isn’t so popular anymore. Hasn’t been for a long time.”

“Books,” Niall chirps. His voice so smooth and it doesn’t sound electronic at all. Harry wants to ask him so many things. Niall’s such human-like lips curl into a gentle smile as he looks at Harry. It’s in that moment does he realize the entirety of his face. Every little detail is so defined from the literal electricity of his blue eyes to the little brown specks draped across his nose and cheeks that he would have never noticed if he hadn’t looked so close or paid so much attention. “I know about books. I’ve got an entire library programmed in me. Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? written by Philip K. Dick and published in 1968.”

“That’s amazing,” Harry mutters before he can stop himself because it truly is. It’s only the year 2020 and the world hasn’t advanced as much as Harry ever thought it would, but this is remarkable. There’s a library in the form of a human right in front of him and it leaves him aching to find out what else there is to learn about him.

“Is it?” Niall asks, head cocking to the side. Harry wonders how it’s possible for something so grand to not know how wonderful they are. Niall is so new, so fresh, so - so impeccable. Maybe, if androids are like this one so far, they aren’t so bad.

“It is,” Harry says, and he smiles back at Niall just faintly. “But do they? Dream of electric sheep, that is. Do you know?”

“I know a lot of things,” Niall’s answers proudly. It shows on his face and in the way his body shifts, broad and larger now as he pushes out his chest slightly. “But androids don’t dream. We don’t sleep. It’s the way we were built.”

Brow furrowing, Harry frowns. “That must be horrible.”

“To not have something is horrible only if you’ve had it before.”

And Harry supposes that’s true.

* * *

When Harry sees Niall again, it’s in a park. He asks him another question, one regarding the flag on his badge.

“Are you programmed with a background story?”

They’re sitting on a park bench and Harry breathes in the fresh air. Fortunately, everything is still green. Society isn’t shiny or smoggy the way he imagined it would be ten years ago when sci-fi movies were a huge thing. There’s been no nuclear war - yet - and there aren’t any robot servants in every home. There aren’t even any flying cars, and there probably won’t be for quite some time. He imagined so much would be different in the future, but if he’s quite honest, androids are the biggest thing to happen since the iPhone 9 in 2016 before they were discontinued when one potentially put it’s owner in the hospital for a month. Technology slowed down after that. Things weren’t launching the way they were before, not until now. Thanks to the break, the creator of androids had enough time to invent and patent their creation so the world was blindsided by the release of them. Now that the droids are here, they’re huge and inspirational. Harry’s expectations for the near future are big.

“In a way,” Niall begins, “yes. My name is Niall Horan and I was made in Mullingar, Ireland on September thirteenth of this year.  Not many of my kind were made there. I’m rare, I suppose. But that’s all there is to me. I don’t have any likes or dislikes. I’m just an android. All I’ve got is an operating system, and I guess I can think faster than humans. Also, that library thing, too. But other than, I’m as normal as androids come, in some sort of beta form.”

Harry listens as Niall explains more in depth about how he’s not exactly capable of forming a liking or disliking for something. _I’m a walking computer_ , is how he put it. He can’t feel emotions, but he can express them. He tells Harry of how he can glitch and how he can’t and won’t die. He’ll break, if anything. If something like that were to happen, he’d have to be terminated. There’s also the chance of shutting down and rebooting, losing every strand of memory he has inside of him. All androids are tracked, Niall tells Harry, so if something happens, the nearest base will come and pick the android up to either fix or dispose of it. There’s so many risks, so many things that can go wrong, and it makes fear settle deep inside the marrow of Harry’s bones. He barely even knows Niall, as if there was much to know, but it’s still there.

Before they part, Harry asks him one more question.

“Can you create your own background story?”

Niall looks at him for a moment. His expression is still, unreadable, and Harry almost thinks he doesn’t want to answer it. But then --

“Possibly,” Niall says, voice smooth. It sounds just like the day Harry first met him. No electronic echo or pauses. He doesn’t sound like the male Siri that was introduced on the iPhone so many years ago. He sounds sweet, almost, his voice wrapping around Harry’s ears like someone poured honey over them. “I don’t think it’s impossible. Would you like to help me?”

Harry would never give up that opportunity for anything in the entire world.

* * *

Harry sees Niall a third time. Then he sees him a fourth, and a fifth, and an eighth, and a tenth time as well. He can’t quite recall how it actually became a pattern, why he ever decided he wanted to spend so much time with Niall, but there is something about him that keeps drawing him back in until they’re seeing each other daily. Harry is sure his mother planted a magnet inside of him when he was a child and because of all the metal inside of Niall, he can’t stay away.

In just three weeks, Harry is willing to call Niall a friend. They meet up in the park everyday, on the same park bench each time. Some days,  they won’t speak and will just enjoy each other’s presences. Other days, they’ll spend hours talking. Between work and going home, Harry can’t find a better way to spend his time than listening to Niall tell him why people say _in the morning_ and _at night_ , _in the earth_  and _on the world_ , or _snowfall_  and _raindrop_.

Harry’s favorite thing, though, is listening to the way Niall’s speech changes. Niall stops saying, “you know,” and switches to, “y’know.” His “to”s grow into short “‘t”s and his laugh goes from a simple chuckle to loud and boisterous cackles. The way he speaks sprouts a personality, his accent growing even thicker too, and one day when he gets home, Harry googles _things people from Ireland like_. He spends an entire night reading about derby and the types of beers that are still around, so the next day when he meets Niall at the park, he greets him with a chipper, “I have a background story for you.”

Saying this makes the biggest grin Harry has ever seen break out on Niall’s face, and a warmth spreads across Harry’s chest as he sits down with him. “Y’gonna tell me it?” Niall ponders, the grin still stuck on his face. Harry hopes the same theory mothers tell their pouty children when they’re younger works on smiley androids as well.

“You’re from Ireland,” Harry begins.

“I know that. Where I was made, did ya forget already?” Niall snickers and nudges Harry’s shoulder with his own. Harry only laughs too, shaking his head as he pulls a small notepad from his pocket.

“No, of course not,” he says, flipping a page or two of the notepad. “Just listen. There once was a small boy from Ireland. Mullingar, to be specific. He liked derby. The Derby County Rams. It’s just a random team I chose, by the way. I thought it’d really fit you.”

Harry smiles at Niall and Niall smiles back, staying silent to let Harry continue, but the look on his face makes Harry feel like Niall would be pleased if could feel that emotion.

“He loved pints. Real Irish beer. He didn’t like anything else but that. He grew up in Mullingar and was a real Irish patriot. He once got kicked out class for singing Irish folk tunes. He just loved it with all his heart - or, he would. Yeah, he would. And just because, he hated bunny rabbits and loved food with his entire being.”

Niall sits there, chewing his lip. Harry watches. He waits because he desperately wants to see Niall’s reaction. He knows he can’t exactly have any feelings towards it, at least he doesn’t think he can. He has no idea how androids can evolve over time, or if they can at all.

“I don’t like that story.” And - okay. Harry wasn’t expecting that, but Niall isn’t finished.

“I don’t like it because you’re not in it.”

Harry has to pretend his heart doesn’t swell. He wonders briefly if Niall had a heart, would his be doing the same?

“How ‘bout this? There once was a small boy from Mullingar who loved derby, pints, and his best friend, Harry Styles,” Niall tells him, voice gentle. Harry practically swoons and he can feel his heart pounding in his chest as he nods his head.

“I like that version a lot,” Harry says.

“So do I.”

Their smiles grow fond and they just sit there after that. There’s a nice silence that surrounds them. Not even the chirping of birds or the sound of cars passing by can break the bubble of serenity around them.

For the rest of the day, Harry spends his time thinking of Niall and it’s not until he gets home does he realize that Niall did two things he said were impossible the second day they spoke.

_I’m not exactly capable of forming likes or dislikes_ no longer stands true.

 

* * *

“Remember when you told me androids don’t sleep?”

Niall and Harry are sitting on the park bench again. This time, Harry is laid down, his head in Niall’s lap while human-like fingers card through his hair. They’ve seen each other quite a few more times, and Harry loves every single day he spends with Niall. He almost wishes Niall had been apart of his life all along.

He hears Niall hum in response, so he starts to speak again.

“What do you do at night then?” he asks quietly. He looks towards the horizon to see the sun sinking past the trees in the park, painting the sky a beautiful shade of salmon. He sighs then.

“Recharge,” Niall says. “We either go ‘t the homes we’ve been assigned or the nearest base to recharge. I roam the city, though. There’s no one else around. Have ya ever heard the city at three in the morning?”

“I reckon there’s nothing to hear,” Harry replies, looking up towards Niall. From where he is, Niall looks just as beautiful as the sunset.

“Exactly,” Niall whispers. He smiles down at Harry this time and stalls the movement of his hand. “The stars feel so much closer t’ya then. They can hear you and you can hear them, if you’re up for a late night chat.”

Harry thinks Niall never fails to amaze him. He’s changed so much since they first met, but he has the same intellect he had on day one. He doesn’t think he’d ever admit it to anyone, but he’s almost positive he’s falling for something that can’t fall too. At the end of the day, though, as long as Niall can catch him, he won’t feel the pain of hitting the ground too hard.

“When did you get so deep and emotional?” he giggles after a few beats of silence just to tease him. But Harry feels Niall tense, and he worries.

“Y’know I can’t feel emotions, Haz,” Niall murmurs. Now he’s looking anywhere but Harry and so he sits up, frowning at Niall.

“I was just joking, Niall,” he tells him, resting a hand over his as he tries to comfort him. But he doesn’t see the point. Niall wouldn’t need comforting unless he was distraught and he was just told - once again - that Niall can’t feel emotions. He’s on the verge of confused, but he doesn’t think now is the time to question it.

“I know, it’s just - odd, is all,” Niall says. Harry doesn’t ask why.

They go home after that, or at least Harry does. He guesses Niall goes off to roam the city like he said he does. Harry would ask to join him, but he’s worn out, the sun having drained him of his energy that day.

That night, when he falls asleep, Harry dreams of a life where Niall could do the same right besides him.

* * *

There’s news about androids on the television the next morning. Normally, Harry doesn’t watch the news. Not many people do anymore, but Harry can’t help but stop whatever he’s doing when he hears the word “androids.”

The anchorperson speaks of how the fourth android since their launch has had to be terminated due to too many glitches and shut downs that couldn’t be rebooted. It’s all occurred in the span of three weeks and Harry had no idea. He wonders if Niall knew about it.

It worries Harry to no end, and he’s shaking his leg nervously all throughout work. Is Niall okay? Harry knows there’s every chance the same thing that happened to those poor androids could happen to Niall too. He’s anxious, his stomach feeling like it’s caved in on itself.

When he’s through with work, he nearly trips rushing to get to the park where he meets Niall everyday now at the same time. But, when he gets there, nobody is on the park bench. Niall is nowhere in sight. It doesn’t help the feeling in Harry’s gut and he sits on the park bench for two hours before he accepts the fact that Niall isn’t going to show up.

That doesn’t stop him from sitting there until the sun sets, though. He thinks that maybe Niall forgot and a tiny shred of hope tells him he will show up later on. When he doesn’t, he finally heads home. The nervousness is still nestled in his stomach and he hates the feeling.

Falling asleep that night isn’t easy for Harry, but as soon as he does, he doesn’t dream.

He has a nightmare of losing Niall.

* * *

Approximately four hours of sleep is what Harry has to run on the next day. He’s more fearful than he is exhausted, though, that Niall won’t show up at the park later on.

He sits through work, nearly messing up on multiple occasions and his co-workers question whether he’s okay or not. He insists that he’s fine.

Harry manages to somehow make it through the rest of the day until it’s finally time to leave. This time around, he takes his time getting to the park. He thinks if his heart is racing from running when he gets there and Niall isn’t there again, it might explode. At least if he goes slow, and Niall is or isn’t there, it’ll only cause minimal damage to his poor heart.

Unfortunately, as Harry rounds the corner that leads to the park, his heart hammers against the bones in his chest against his will. Harry truly hopes that Niall is there so that if his heart does explode from happiness, he’ll be able to die in his arms.

Closing his eyes, Harry turns the corner and when he opens them, he sees a body sitting on the bench with a head of blond hair and brown roots. He all but trips as he runs on his long legs to the bench, nearly tackling Niall down to the floor as he engulfs him into his arms.

“I was so worried about you.” His voice comes out sounding choked, the words barely having been able to get passed his throat.

“Haz,” Niall chuckles, hugging the boy back just about as tight as he’s being hugged. “I’m okay, see? No need ‘t worry anymore. I swear.”

Harry, though, shakes his head, smothering his face into Niall’s neck as he grips onto him for dear life. “No, no, you had me proper scared, Ni,” he huffs against his skin before pulling back to glare at him. “Where were you? Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be gone? I was watching the news and they were talking about the shut downs of androids and I thought - I - why didn’t you warn me!”

Harry hits Niall then, on his shoulder opposite the one with the badge.

It falls uneffective on Niall but his hand is swatted away anyways as Niall attempts to calm him down. “‘Cause I didn’t know, that’s why,” he tells Harry, causing him to frown even more.

“What do you mean you didn’t know?”

Niall sighs. “Don’t freak out,” he says calmly, “but I glitched. It wasn’t anything major, I promise you, Haz. But it was detected in my system and I was taken in to fix it before anything else could happen.”

Harry’s heart sinks. Something bad did happen, and he had every reason to be worried. He feels his gut wrench the way it’s been doing for the past two days, but he doesn’t have the energy to berate Niall any further. He opts for sliding down onto the bench next to Niall, forcing himself to curl into Niall’s side while his long limbs fit comfortably close to him. Harry lets out a long breath when he feels Niall’s arm wrap around him.

His head is on his chest, his ear pressed right over where his heart should be. It’s silent. But the silence falls deafening on his ears, screaming at him something he can’t decipher.

“Don’t frighten me like that again,” he mutters then, closing his eyes as he reaches for Niall’s hand, his fingers slipping through his. They’ve never felt so real before, not like now, not when Harry needs to feel him there more than ever before.

Harry feels Niall shake his head. “Don’t hafta worry, Haz,” Niall tells him.

A loud silence falls around them both this time and Harry is nearly falls asleep against Niall when Niall jerks with a gasp.

“I forgot,” he says, turning to the side of him where a bag Harry hadn’t noticed before is sitting. “I brought ya something. I sort of figured you’d get your knickers in a twist, so I brought you this,” he explains, passing the bag along to Harry.

He sits up, opening the plastic bag to find a poor, squashed banana lurking on the inside. “I think you’ve murdered it,” he says to Niall, frowning up at him even though his lips are quivering between a pout and a smile as he holds back a few giggles. “He doesn’t look so well.”

“See what you’ve done!” Niall scolds him playfully. “Ya bloody well tackled me gettin’ ‘ere, now I’m a banana murderer. Feds are goin’ to come for me soon.”

The two of them break out into a fit of laughter. Harry is smiling again, his stomach feeling quite okay again, and his heart was fine too until Niall started laughing and made it leap in a giddy whirl.

After their laughter dies down, they fall back into a peaceful silence. Harry’s hand is still laced with Niall’s and he smiles to himself as he leans his head down on Niall’s shoulder. “Thank you,” he whispers after quite a few moments. “For the banana, I mean. It’s the thought that counts,” he titters.

“S’no problem at all, Haz,” Niall says gently, squeezing his hand as lightly as he can.

That night, they lose track of time. Harry doesn’t care that he gets home from sitting on a park bench starving. Thankfully, the sun is rising and breakfast is just a kitchen away.

* * *

“I think,” Niall is saying one night on the park bench, “you should come for a walk with me tonight.”

The sun has set already, the stars having come out from their hiding as the city quiets down around them. It’s so peaceful and Harry is so close to falling in love with spending nights like these with Niall.

“Yeah?” Harry asks and looks at Niall with a hint of a grin. Niall nods in return and Harry shrugs, figuring there’s nothing to lose but sleep, and it wouldn’t be the first time he’s stayed awake all night with Niall. “I’d love to.”

“Great,” says Niall before standing up, pulling Harry with him. They’re off in just another second.

As soon as they start walking, they’re chatting. Harry asks him all sorts of questions, standing close to him so their shoulders brush every so often. He asks what makes the stars shine so bright or why the moon is responsible for the crashes of waves in the ocean and Niall has every single answer to each of his questions. Half past midnight, they’re in some part of the city where cars pass every five minutes and Harry finds himself asking for facts about bananas.

“Did y’know bananas help reduce the chances of becoming depressed?” Niall asks him after telling him that bananas are naturally radioactive due to their high levels of potassium and overwhelming him with the fact that there are over one hundred different types of banana plants. “Must be why you’re so damn happy all the time.”

Harry smiles and fails to tell him that no, the reason he’s so happy is him. But with his blond and brown hair, Harry supposes Niall looks like a banana at least, so it’s half true.

“Can’t believe you remember me telling you how much I love bananas,” Harry snickers and shakes his head, mostly at himself. It was a dumb fact he shared with Niall the first week they spent together in the  park, and Niall hasn’t let him forget that he did ever since.

“I remember everything you’ve told me,” Niall says then, stuffing his hands into his pockets. “Born and raised in Holmes Chapel with your mum and your sister. Bananas and baking. Your true loves,” he tells him, grinning over at him. “Quite a lot more. Don’t think you need me ‘t tell you all about your own life, though.”

Harry is always in constant awe with Niall. Now is no different. The way his heart is fighting against its confinements, aching to leap out of his chest and onto the ground tells him so. He’s too busy sending Niall a goofy smile to realize that he’s staring in amazement.

“I’m really glad you’re my friend, Niall,” he says quietly. His voice is soft, near silent, even though it doesn’t have to be. Nobody is around. It’s just him, Niall, and well, the stars.

But when Niall replies, he matches the quietness of his voice and smiles back at him. “I’m glad you’re mine, Haz.”

They walk, not even watching ahead of them, just watching each other. Harry speaks next though, finally breaking eye contact with Niall to look down at the ground to watch his feet now.

“I have another question.” He smiles at the cement and doesn’t bother waiting for Niall’s okay. “What do you do for someone you love?”

“Well,” Niall begins, face slightly twisted in confusion, “‘Twenty-three Ways to Show Someone You Love Them’ is an article but I can - “

“No,” Harry interrupts. He looks back up at Niall, breathing in a deep breath. “I want your opinion. Don’t search it,” he requests.

Niall is taken aback, looking confused, but he nods his head anyway as to not protest against Harry.

“Flowers,” he starts. “Chocolates? Um, food in general. Love notes. Songs. Random acts of endearment, yeah? Like compliments and all. I dunno, Haz, that’s a weird question. I don’t know what love feels like.”

“No, Ni, you were doing great,” Harry rushes to tell him and his lips curl slightly into the fond smile he’s grown so accustomed to wearing around Niall now. “I think you know what love feels like.”

Niall shakes his head in denial, even laughing at Harry like what he’s said is absolutely mad. “I don’t have any emotions, remember? Love is an emotion.”

“I refuse to believe that,” Harry insists. “I think you love spending time with me. I think that us, being friends I mean, has broken all the laws against androids having feelings. The power of friendship, don’t you think?” Harry sounds mad, sleep deprived, and he knows it. But he still means every word he’s saying to Niall, he does. It’s only because he knows he can’t be the only one with such strong feelings between the both of them. He no longer cares about the fact Niall isn’t human. If anything, he’s better than that and he deserves to know what love feels like.

“I think…” Niall trails off with a sigh. “You should probably get home and sleep. I’ll walk ya if you’d like.”

“What’s love to a non-believer?” Harry huffs.

“More like what’s love ‘t an android.”

Harry pouts petulantly. “I don’t care what you say. Until you admit it, I’ll love our friendship enough for the both of us.”

And, maybe, he’s being a child about this. Maybe he’s stating the impossible, but it’s past midnight, and Harry is a bit delirious, but at least he’s hopeful. There has to be something there.

He lets Niall walk him home though, and he says goodbye reluctantly before going into his flat to get much needed rest. When he falls asleep, he dreams of Niall again. Just Niall, loving him in every way possible.

* * *

One morning, on a day off from work, Harry douses himself in a giant bottle of “How Cliche Can I Get?”

He and Niall planned to meet earlier that day after breakfast time, but Harry skips breakfast completely, only grabbing a banana and a bottle of water before he’s out the door. On his way to the park, he stops to buy flowers and a toy robot, wondering if any type of flowers were good enough to win the figurative heart of an android.

He arrives at the park half past nine and Niall isn’t there yet, but he tells himself to be less worried this time. Niall promised he was fine and Harry trusts Niall to no end. So he sits and waits patiently for his friend until he finally gets there.

“Hi,” Harry greets and stands up as Niall approaches the bench. “Good morning.”

“Morning ‘t ya,” Niall chirps happily and Harry tries his hardest not to outwardly swoon over the smile on his face.

“Come, sit,” Harry instructs and pulls Niall down onto the bench with him. He smiles at him, pulling the flowers and small toy from the other side of him to thrust into Niall’s hand. “I got you flowers and this cute little toy,” he giggles.

“Flowers and a toy?” Niall parrots. He cocks his head to the side, wearing the same expression of confusion he wore the first day he and Harry had met. Harry wants to kiss his little pout away.

“Yes,” he says. “Acts of endearment. Remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. But, Harry,” Niall starts before trailing off and looking down at the toy and flowers in his hand. “These are things you do for someone you love.”

“Yeah, I know, you big idiot,” Harry huffs, rolling his eyes at Niall. And, obviously, the type of love Harry is trying to express is unclear, and yes, Harry loves Niall as a friend more than anything, but he knows deep down that the butterflies he gets in his stomach every time he hears Niall laugh are screaming for him to just kiss Niall already, and it’s just --

“Do you love me, Harry?” Niall questions. For a second, Harry is silent. He looks down at the gifts he got for Niall then back up to meet his eyes.

“Yes,” he says. “You’re my best friend now, Niall.”

“You’re goin’ ‘t have ‘t tell me what that feels like one day,” chuckles Niall and Harry’s shoulders slump. This is not how he expected things to go. For some reason, he hoped that Niall would confess his love back, but sometimes he wishes for things that he can’t have.

“Yeah, definitely,” is all he says back before he lets Niall go off, spewing all the facts he can about the chrysanthemums, calla lilies, and frangipanis Harry bought him and why toy robots are terribly inaccurate.

Of course Harry listens. He wouldn’t stop listening to Niall, ever, but he just wishes one day he’ll be able to listen to him say, “I love you.”

* * *

It takes one more week for things to finally go wrong.

Harry wakes up one morning and his stomach aches of something awful. He thinks of calling in sick to work, but that’d mean not being able to see Niall that day. So with that in mind, Harry pulls it together. He stops for a bottle of ginger ale before work and downs it as fast as he can without having it burn down his throat and wanting to regurgitate it.

He fortunately makes it through work without any bad incidents on his co-worker’s laps and he walks to the park with no problems. The real problem doesn’t arise until he gets there and the park bench is empty. He looks down at his watch and he’s late. He’s definitely late and Niall still isn’t there.

This isn’t like the morning they spent together and Harry was earlier than he should’ve been because he’s _late_ and Niall is never late unless --

No. Harry cannot worry the way he did the day after Niall glitched so he sits on the park bench and attempts to patiently wait. Attempting for him is shaking his leg for two seconds before the pain in his stomach returns. It’s not even the nervous twist he had last time. It’s the stomach ache he woke up with, except now, it’s screaming at him to go to Niall. Harry doesn’t know if it’s a particularly good time to be laughing at the fact that being apart from Niall has brought him physical pain now, but what the hell.

He listens to his gut. He doesn’t stay on the park bench for another second and instead, he walks the way he knows Niall would be walking to come meet him. He doesn’t see him the entire time, although he sees enough blond haired boys to trick him and potentially cause him to embarrass himself by partly calling out Niall’s name before realizing they aren’t him.

Harry gets to Niall’s home. It’s a tall building, a new one, that was made especially for androids to have shelter if they’re not out and about or at the base. He walks inside and sees that there’s a man behind a desk.

“Hello,” he says politely to the man, who looks up to greet him with a kind smile. “I’m looking for a Niall Horan. He’s blond and Irish? He’s supposed to live here. Have you seen him at all today?”

“The blond Irish android,” the man behind the counter echoes from behind the desk as he looks down at a few papers and notebooks he has. Harry resists the urge to bite his fingernails and huff at him to hurry it up. “Ah, yes,” the man says. “‘M afraid I might’ve seen it for the last time today. It glitched, froze and shut down earlier. It was picked up by some people at the base a few blocks away. I’m sorry, mate.”

Harry’s heart feels like it’s about to break. It probably already has, but it’s numbing, swelling in a terribly uncomfortable way in his chest so it’s caught in his throat and he can’t say a word. He manages to choke out a thank you to the man before he stumbles out the door, tripping on his two left feet.

Everything he’s dreaded ever since he’s grown attached to Niall is being shoved into his face and he doesn’t know if he can handle it, honestly. He feels sicker than earlier. It’s there, churning in his stomach, but he keeps it all down. If there’s any chance of seeing Niall, he has to take it.

Harry walks fast towards the base where androids are taken. They’ve been put up all over the country and he’s passed the nearest one quite a few times to know where it’s at. It’s like a small hospital for androids, and not much is needed, but Harry used to think that their electric bill must be higher than anyone else’s in the city.

Now he just needs to get there to see if Niall has been miraculously met with some sort of salvation. Maybe he’s been rebooted, maybe he’s okay, but that would mean the worst of things. He doesn’t remember Harry. Harry doesn’t know if he’d rather live in a world where Niall doesn’t remember him and everything they’ve gone through or in a world where there’s no Niall at all. He doesn’t think there’s a difference at all.

When he pushes through the doors of the base, the first thing he hears is, “This is the second one this week. Maybe these things weren’t such a good idea,” and Harry feels like crying. He holds it together though, walking up to the receptionist desk as technicians rush around, going from room to room.

“Hello,” he rushes out, voice much more clambered than the last time he spoke. “Is there an android named Niall Horan here?”

The receptionist looks up at him oddly. She just stares for a second, expression unreadable, before she looks down at the desk with a sigh. “Yes,” she says finally. “But this isn’t exactly a place for visitors. The androids aren’t patients, sir, they’re objects that need to be fixed.”

“No, you don’t understand, I need to see him,” Harry tells the woman and swallows thickly. He’s been trying to keep himself composed for what seems like forever, but now he’s cracking.

“It,” the woman tries to correct him. “It’s not on right now, sir. It came in shut down and it hasn’t rebooted yet.”

Harry ignores her. “You have to let me see him.”

The woman sighs again, though. She doesn’t reply, but instead picks up her phone, calling someone to tell them a man is there to see one of the androids and a minute after she hangs up, a man is coming out to the front.

“Sir?” the man calls for Harry, and he turns around to see him. He looks like what Harry would think doctors for androids would look like. “I’m the person who’s been working on the android you want to see.”

“Is he okay?” Harry asks as calmly as he can.

The man, whose name seems to be Zayn Malik if the nametag on his shirt is anything to go by, sighs. “I honestly don’t know,” he says then. “His case is unlike any other that I’ve seen. His motherboard, the thing that keeps him running, has been trembling ever since he’s gotten here. It’s odd and we can’t figure out what’s going on. But if I’m honest, there’s no point in you being here. If you knew him, he won’t have any memory left of you or anything else when he turns back on.” He’s obviously just trying to be kind to Harry, only trying to help him out, and he’s incredibly grateful for that. But it’s all so much to take in.

Harry pushes down the lump in his throat. He can’t pinpoint the moment Niall began meaning so much to him, or why he didn’t stop seeing him after the second time they met, but he’s feeling an awful heartbreak that won’t be tamed until he at least gets the chance to see Niall again.

“Can you please just take me to see him?” His voice is pleading, his eyes practically begging the man in front of him until he visibly deflates in sympathy for Harry.

“Follow me then,” he says and leads the way. Harry’s taken a floor up and to a room a minute from the elevator. Zayn tells him he’s just past the door, and that he’ll be standing by if he needs him. Harry thanks  him before walking inside.

The room is large and there’s different types of flashing things on the wall. There’s wires leading all across the room and Harry is mindful of where he steps, looking all around until he sees Niall on some sort of operating table with two large wires hooked up to him. He slowly walks up to him and reaches for his hand.

“You promised me you’d be okay,” is the first thing he whispers to him in the quiet room, a constant beeping being the only other thing to be heard. “You big idiot,” he says, managing the smallest of laughs.

“I know you can’t hear me,” he starts and honestly, he doesn’t know where he’s going with this. “But I’m here. Same time everyday. Promise I’ll be with you, always.”

“You asked me if I loved you last week.” Now he’s properly holding his cold hand and he wonders briefly if they’ve always been so cold. Every time he’s ever touched Niall, he’d been warm enough for the both of them because of Niall’s smile. “I said yes. You’re my best friend. I love you so much more than that, though. And I’ve never been in love with an android before, I can tell you that. But I’ve been in love with a small boy from Mullingar, who loves derby, pints and his - his best friend, Harry Styles. Who better to love than the one who taught me the difference between the big bananas and the small ones?”

Harry’s voice trembles. He takes a deep breath. “You see what you’ve done to me?” he laughs lightly, shaking his head to himself. He lies his head down on Niall’s chest in an attempt to get a final hug, if anything. He closes his eyes, just holding his hand and relishing in this while he can.

Then - then he hears it. There’s a loud whir and too many other noises before there’s a voice.

“A dream. A succession of images, thoughts, or emotions passing through the mind during sleep.”

Harry’s eyes shoot open and he waits quietly. His heart begins to race as he slowly releases Niall’s hand.

“Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? written by Philip K. Dick and published in 1968.”

“Niall --”

“No. I dream of Harry.”

Harry’s head shoots up and he looks down to see Niall’s eyes open again, the hint of a smile on his face he looks up at Harry. His heart feels the way it’s felt so many times before, thrashing against the barricade of rib cage bones and muscle as Harry tries to process all that is happening.

“I dreamt of you,” Niall repeats in a gentle voice and Harry throws himself at Niall, no longer caring of the wires as his long arms pull Niall up into a hug. He feels him hug back, his arms wrapping tight around him and Harry is definitely going to cry.

“Thought I’d lost you, Ni,” he chokes out, face buried in Niall’s neck. “Hate you for scaring me again. Big idiot.”

“It’s fine,” Niall laughs, nose stuffed into Harry’s curls. “Love you no matter how much ya hate me.”

And that - God, Harry was not expecting that but he loves the sound of it against his ears.

“You just said you loved me,” he breathes, pulling back to stare at Niall and fighting hard not to grin.

“Well, ya never did tell me how it feels to love me,” Niall tells him, snickering back in response. “Had ‘t figure it out for meself.”

“I love you,” Harry just about sobs in joy as he smiles widely at Niall. He supposes he’d be crazy if he didn’t kiss Niall, so he does, leaning in to press his lips against his. They’re so real, so soft, so human-like, and every reminder that Niall isn’t human flies out the window because Harry just doesn’t care. The kiss is so exhilarating and he cups both of his cheeks, holding him too close but he needs this more than anything. Knowing that this is Niall, that he’s kissing Niall, and that he loves him back is all he’s ever wanted it seems.

“Love you, too, monkey,” Niall mumbles with another laugh against Harry’s lips and they giggle into each other’s mouths, just smiling into the kiss they’re sharing.

When Harry finally does pull back, he gives Niall a dopey smile and reaches for both of his hands. “This is better than anything I could have ever dreamt of.”

“You’re the only thing I’ve ever dreamt of,” Niall tells him. Harry’s heart soars.

And even though Niall doesn’t have a heart to feel the same, Harry supposes that his is beating strong enough for the both of them.

****  
  


**Author's Note:**

> okay *cracks knuckles*
> 
> this fic is set in 2020 because it is what i was comfortable with. this entire fic is based off of my perception with the future, so yes, i know, some things may or may not make sense. the future is set the way it is in this for the purpose of the fic. things are said and done for the sole purpose of this fic whether you agree with it or not okay !!! like um there is no sole purpose for androids other than for harry falling in love with android!niall androids are just there ... anyways, thank you for reading i hope it wasn't too much of a let down i really didn't know where to go with this but i really did want to write it, it seems so yeah okay sorry and sorry for all the leftover mistakes yeah that's it i'm sure :^) im liamipayne on tumblr and thank you nicole i love you too


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